How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?

 

Also is it much difference between charging each stick individually vs a grid charger?

Is 350mA charge a magical optimal number or is lower even better?

Anyone work with http://hybridautomotive.com/ ?

 

Me.

Ginormous difference.

Grid chargers charge at 350mA. It takes 24-32 hours to balance an empty HCH2 pack at that rate. Grid charging can be done in-car with a proper harness with minimal inconvenience. Full pack charging and discharging to progressively lower voltages can restore a pack in a manner similar to a stick-level refurb. It requires a lot of monitoring and time.

Stick charging can be done as pairs or as sticks in the HCH2. Depending on your chargers, it can be done fast, or it can take some time. They can be programmed for automatic cycling at different speeds and levels, which is the principal advantage - automation. Additionally, stick testing can clearly identify bad sticks that are bringing a whole pack down. Replace that stick, and you've got a pack that performs much better.

IMHO, ALL Honda hybrid owners with NiMH battery packs should have a grid charger and use it quarterly (or sooner if dictated by need) to minimize cell imbalance and maximize the life of their battery.

Steve

 

Yes, it's magical. It's about C/18, so it almost guarantees you won't damage the strongest cells while trying to get the lagging cells topped off. It minimizes heat generation as well. It also happens to be the current for popular LED constant current power supplies that can be adapted for use in grid chargers.

Hybrid Automotive makes a great charger. I've recommended them a few times. Folks over at Insight Central sing his praises. He's a big contributor over there.

Steve

 

Thanks.

I didn the stick level charging. So I am not sure about spending another $500 for a grid charger yet. I have two battery set and 4 pairs of extra sticks.

When the rain dies down I will see how my original batteries are. (@105,000miles).





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You can build your own grid charger for less than $100. That's what I did.

In my mind there are only two real choices for batteries... Bumblebee and Hybrid Revolt.

EDIT: I found some new LED power supplies that eliminate the need for two of the fixed voltage power supplies. Cost can be close to $50 or so after shipping:

Shopping cart:
http://www.mouser.com/ProjectManager...sID=6c19b570d9

 

The shopping cart I linked includes:

Copper clad board for mounting
25K Ohm resistor for tricking the PWM fan controller
12V Power supply to drive in-car fan
2X 28-100V constant current LED power supplies for charging battery (in series will provide 56-200V @ 350mA)

You should probably put diodes and fuses in it to be safe, but I didn't.

You'll need stuff like alligator clips and an old computer A/C power cable you can cut the end off, but you can probably find that stuff laying around, right?

The extra $400+ you pay Hybrid Automotive is the convenience of not having to do this yourself or devise a means of installation and connection. Their unit is a piece of work. Mine is a hunk of crap with some components in common (mean well power supplies).

 

Man, I need a lot of guide before I can think about that.

https://i.imgur.com/MHD7UOn.png Screenshot of the Shopping Cart just in case the URL expires or change.

 

It's intimidating, but it's really easy. The components I linked are even less work than Mike D's original design at 99mpg.com.

EDIT: Added a picture of my "elaborate" setup.

I added the little voltmeter. The new version doesn't have the 3 cages on the left and the white box in front. Instead, only has the two white boxes of similar size and the one cage on the right. Wiring is simplified and build time is way less.

Yes, that's a cheap extension cord that's been cut in half and flipped around

 

I am at 6 months now on my re-conditioned/grid charged HCH-II battery. It stays mostly 6 bars or higher, and never below 4 bars. The acceleration is like when the car was new. 153K miles. If it wasn't for grid charging, I would have gotten rid of this car a while ago. Can't handle the behavior and power loss when battery is imbalanced!